Battle of Aljubarrota - Castile Arrives

Castile Arrives

The Castilian vanguard arrived at lunch time from the north. Seeing the strongly defensive position occupied by the Portuguese, John of Castile made the wise decision to avoid combat on John of Portugal's terms. Slowly, due to the numbers of his army (about 31,000 men), the Castilian army started to contour the hill where the Portuguese were located. John of Castile's scouts had noticed that the South side of the hill had a gentler slope and it was there that the Castilian king wanted to attack.

In response of this movement, the Portuguese army inverted its dispositions and headed to the South slope of the hill. Since they were fewer than the enemy and had less ground to cover, they attained their final position very early in the afternoon. To calm the soldiers' nervousness and to improve his army's defensive position, general Nuno Álvares Pereira ordered the construction of a system of ditches, pitches and caltrops. This application of typical English tactical procedures had also been used by the Portuguese on the previous battle of Atoleiros and was especially effective against cavalry (the speciality of both the Castilian and the French armies).

Around six o'clock in the afternoon the Castilian army was ready for battle. According to John of Castile's own words, in his report of the battle, his soldiers were by then very tired from the march that started early in the morning under a blazing August sun. There was no time to halt now, and the battle would soon begin.